Eight buildings gutted in blaze in J&K’s Bhaderwah, no casualty

Bhaderwah/ Jammu, Nov 16 (PTI) Six multi-storied houses and two commercial buildings were gutted in a massive fire that broke out in the Bhaderwah belt of Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda district on Thursday, officials said.

There was no casualty in the blaze, which broke out at Green Colony in the Chinnote area of Bhaderwah at 4.45 am due to a short circuit, they added.

However, locals alleged that due to the inefficiency of fire tenders, it took around four hours to douse the fire, therefore resulting in the loss of property worth crores.

“Five fire fighting machines were immediately pressed into service to douse the fire. Fire has been brought under control”, Senior Superintendent of Police, Doda, Abdul Qayoom told PTI.

He said eight structures were gutted in the fire but there was no loss of life in the incident.

The structures damaged in the fire included six houses, a guest house and a food joint, officials said.

According to reports, the fire broke out at the ‘Food Lab’ restaurant at 4 am and soon spread to adjoining buildings with wooden roofs after an LPG cylinder exploded.

The blaze spread rapidly as the roofs of these structures are made of dry cedar wood which is said to be highly inflammable.

Locals said the fire tenders did not have sufficient water to douse the fire, which caused a delay in dousing it.

“Fire tenders are located just one kilometre from the incident site and although two fire tenders reached the spot within half an hour, they neither had sufficient water nor did they have fuel for the pumps to lift water from an adjoining nullah. This resulted in the blaze spreading soon to the adjoining buildings,” said Khalid Bashir Mughal, Sarpanch, Chinnote.

Meanwhile, Doda Deputy Commissioner Harvinder Singh who visited the spot assured inquiry on the matter.